Saturday, January 26, 2019

Another part of Indian sculpture is the Ellora - Buddhist Caves, in Maharashtra India.

These caves have artwork from thousands of years ago, and there are over 100 caves, with sculptures and artwork for different people with different beliefs.

There are 12 caves called the Buddhist caves, because they all have artwork about Buddha.
They were carved around 600 or 700 AD.

Eleven of these caves are called "viharas", which are monastaries with prayer halls.
These viharas had places for people to live, sleep, cook food and pray.
Cave number 11 was three stories high and had many rooms.

Inside some of the rooms were sculptures of Buddha or other statues that people would worship.

Saturday, January 5, 2019

Just like Enkū that we learned about, Mokujiki Shonin was a monk who traveled around and talked to people.
Once when he was visiting a village, he saw a sculpture of Buddha made by Enkū, and decided to become a sculptor just like him.

His sculptures always seemed very free and rough, close to nature and happy.

Saturday, December 15, 2018

Another Japanese sculpture is The Great Buddha of Kamakura, made some time around 1252 AD.

No one is really sure who made the statue, but they think it might have been either Ōno Gorōemon or Tanji Hisatomo who were both famous artists at the time.

The statue is made out of bronze, and was made as a replacement for a wooden statue just like it.
It is over 40 feet tall, and weighs over 100 tons.
It's hollow, and people can actually go inside and look around.

Saturday, December 1, 2018

Jōkei was also from the Kei school, like Jōchō, Kōkei, Unkei and Kaikei.
He worked alongside Unkei, and some people believe that he may have also been Kōkei's son, just like Unkei was.

Jōkei carved this statue over 56 days out of colored wood, using a type of wood-block sculpture called yosegi.
You can see the chair that the Yuima is sitting in is made out of many small colored blocks.
The sculptures eyes are made out of sculpted crystal.

Saturday, November 24, 2018

Another ancient Japanese sculpture is the Amitabha Triad of Jōdo-ji by Kaikei

Kaikei was also part of the Kei school with the famous artist Unkei we already learned about.
Just like the other Kei school artists, he tried very hard to make his sculptures look very real, with lots of fine details.

This sculpture of his is of Buddha with a lot of gold to make it look very bright and shiny.

Saturday, November 10, 2018

Another famous Japanese sculpture is the Byodoin Amitaabha by Jōchō, made around 1052 AD in Uji Japan.
This was a statue of Buddha made for one of the rulers in Japan.
It is oldest known statue made by Jōchō.

Jōchō became very famous and earned titles like Hokkyō (Master of the Dharma Bridge), and Hōgen (Master of the Dharma Eye).
Some people said he was the first of a new kind of master sculptor.
Others said that he was one of the most innovative artists Japan has ever produced.
He also was very good at a type of artwork called yosegi, which used a lot of pieces of wood to make a single sculpture.

We learned before about the famous artist Unkei, and he is actually the descendant of Jōchō, many years later.
(from: wikipedia - Jōchō)

Saturday, November 3, 2018

Another ancient Japanese sculpture is the Tōdai-ji Nio Guardian Agyō made by Unkei in 1203.

Unkei was one of the most famous sculptors of his time, and part of a style called the Kei school.
This was a style with famous artists who worked very hard to make their sculptures look as real as possible.

The Agyō sculpture is one of the Nio guardians we learned about, at the Tōdai-ji temple in Nara, Japan.
It is made out of wood, and many people think it was one of the best wooden sculptures in Japan from that time.

Saturday, October 27, 2018

Another famous ancient Japanese sculpture is the sculpture of Asura at Kōfuku-ji temple, made around 700 AD in Nara Japan.

Buddhists believe that the Asura is a powerful creature that helps protect the temples.

This sculpture was made using a type of art called kanshitsu, which means dry lacquer.
For this type of art, sculptors first make a model out of clay.
Then they take some cloth that they soak in a special type of oil and sawdust.
After that they wrap the statue in these cloths until it dries.
Last they break the clay out from underneath so it is a hollow statue.

Saturday, October 20, 2018

Another type of Japanese sculptures is the Kongōrikishi (金剛力士), also called Niō (仁王).

These are two big mean looking sculptures with big muscles and weapons that were made as guardians for Buddhist temples.

One guard is making the "ah" sound and the other is making an "uhm" sound.
The ah is supposed to be like the first sound you make when you are born, and the uhm is the last sound you make before you die.
So the statues represent all life from birth to death.

Saturday, October 6, 2018

Another ancient Japanese masterpiece is the sculpture of Shaka Triad of Hōryūji made in 623 AD by artist Tori Busshi.

Busshi was a famous artist in Japan who started out as a saddle maker.
Working with saddles helped hi learn how to work with wood carving and metal casting, and he learned to be a sculptor.

The Shaka was a sculpture that Busshi made after the death of some rich and powerful people.
Some people believed that this sculpture could help these people in the afterlife where they went after they died.

Saturday, September 29, 2018

These are small figures made out of clay, that were made for special times like funerals.

Some people believed that the soul of the person who had died would go into the haniwa if they put the sculpture on top of the place where they were buried.

Sometimes the sculptures were warriors with swords or other weapons, and sometimes they were bowls, or animals like horses, chickens or fish.
These were all meant to become part of the afterlife of the person who died.